Awards Package

The overall Spark 2010 awards package is worth up to £1.6M and includes investment from the Department for Communities and Local Government, business support and corporate sponsorship from BT, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Places for People and Willmott Dixon. In addition there will be the opportunity to receive loans of up to £500,000 from Big Issue Invest.

Finalists will receive:

• At least five days' business development support, from our Corporate Partners, to create Business Plans
• Presentational skills support

Winning organisations will receive

• A cash investment of up to £150,000
• At least a further five days' ongoing business development support tailored to your organisations’ individual requirements
• The opportunity to secure additional financing of up to £500,000 from Big Issue Invest

The finalists will be announced on 1st September and will be invited to participate in the initial Spark business development and presentational skills programme. Teams from our corporate partners will work one on one with each enterprise to provide hugely valuable business insight.

During a two-day event, on 9th and 10th November, the finalists will present to the Spark panel, which will choose the 2010 winners.

The winners will receive cash investments, ongoing business support and potential additional investment during the six month period to 31st March 2011.